Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-10-22

In the ray of light that pierced into the
cave from the outer air, shaking out my
clothes as a makeshift for brushing them,
which he could not do because there was
no brush, and then folding them up neatly
n laying them on the foot Of the stone
couch. This done, he got my travelling
dressing-case out Of the Gladstone bag,
and opened it ready for my use. First he
stood it on the foot of the couch also, then,
being afraid, l suppose, that / should kick
it OF, he placed it OIL a leopard-skin on the
floor, and stood back a step or two to OBJ
served the effect, 1t was not satisfactory,
so he shut up the bag, turned it on end,
and having rested it against the foot of the
couch. placed the dressing-case on it.
Next, he looked at the pots full of water,
which constituted our washing apparatus.
"Ahl' / heard him murmur, "no hot water
in this beastly place. l suppose these poor
creatures only use 1t to boil each other in"
and he sighed deeply.
"What is the matter, Jobf" I said.
BEG pardon, sill" he said, touching his
hair. II thought you were asleep. sir; and
/ am sure you look as though you want 1t.
One might think from the look of you that
you had been having q night of it."
/ only groaned by way Of answer Ihad,
indeed, been having a night OF 1t, such as ]
hope never to AVE again.
"How is Mr.. Leo, Job?"
Much the same, sir. II he don't soon
mend, he'll end, sir, and that's all about
1t; though must say that that there saw
age Ustane do do her best for him, almost
like a baptized Christian. She is always
hanging round and looking after him, and
If | venture to interfere, it's awful to see
her; her hair seems to stand on end, and
she curses and swears away in her heather
talk-at least l fancy she must be cursing
from the look Of her."
"And what do you do them"
81 make her a polite bow, and I say,
Young woman, your position Is one that I
don't quite understand, and amt recog-
nize. Let me tell you that ! has a duty to
perform to my master as is ilcapacitated
by illness, and that l am going to perform
it until ! am incapacitated too but she
don't take no heed, not she-only curses
and swears away worse than ever. Last
night she put her hand under that sort Of
night-shirt she wears and whips out q
knife with a kind of a curl in the blade; SO
l whips out my revolver, and we walks
round and round each other, till at last
she bursts out laughing. 1t isn't nice
treatment for a Christian man to have to
put up Will lToII u SdNdSc, uOWcScT uuuu-
some she may be; but it is what people
must expect as is fools enough" Dob laid
great emphasis on the "fools'') Ito come
to such a place to look for things no man
Is meant to find. It's a Judgment on us,
sir-that's my opinion; and l, for one, is of
opinion that the judgment isn't half done
yet; and when it is done, we shall be done
too, and just stop in these beastly caves
with the ghosts and the corpses for once
and all. And now, sir, l must be seeing
about Leo's broth, il that wild cat will let
me; and perhaps you would like to get up,
sir, because it's past nine o'clock.
Jobs remarks were not Of an exactly
cheering order to Q man who had passed
such a night rs I had; and what is more,
they had the weight of truth. Taking one
thing with another, il appeared to me to
be an utter impossibility that we should
escape from the place where we were.
Surprising that Leo recovered, and suppos-
ing that She would let us go, which was
exceedingly doubtful, and that she did not
blast" us in some moment Of vexation,
and that we were not hot-potted by the
Amahagger, 1t would be quite impossible
fer us to find our way across the network
OF marshes which, stretching for scores
and scores of miles, formed q stronger and
more impossible fertilization round the
various Am~ahagger households than any
that could be built or designed by man.
No, there was but one thing to do-face It
out; and, speaking for my own part. l was
SO intensely interested in the whole weird
story that, so far as / was concerned, not
withstanding the shattered state of my
nerves, i asked nothing better, even il my
life paid forfeit to my curiosity.
After I had dressed myself l passed into
the eating, or rather embalning, chamber,
and had some food. which vas, as before,
brought to me by the girl mutes. When
/ had finished l went and saw poor Leo,
who was quite of his head, and did not
even know me. / asked Ustane how she
thought he was, but she only shook her
head and began TO cry a little. Evidently
her hopes were small; and then and there
made up my mind that, if it were in any
way possible, / would get She to come and
see him. Surely she would cure him il
she chose; at any rate, she said she could.
Whilst ! was in the room, Billali entered,
and alsc shook his head.
He will die at night" he said.
"God forbid, my father, (" / answered and
turned away with a heavy heart.
observation-disclosures commands thy
presence, my DaDOO salu tHe OH HAL
as soon as we got to the curtain, "but, oh,
my dear son, be moro careful. Yesterday
/ made sure in my heart that She would
blast thee when thou didst not crawl upon
thy stomach before her. She is sitting in
the great hall to do justice upon those who
would nave smitten thee and the Lion.
Come on, my son; come swiftly"
/ turned, and followed him down the
passage, and when we reached the great
central cave saw that many Amahagger,
some robed. and some merely clad in the
sweet simplicity of a leopard skin, were
hurrying up it. We mingled with the
throng, and walked up the enormous, n
indeed almost interminable, cave. Allthe
way up it the walls were deliberately SOUP
tured. and every twenty PAGES or so pas.
sages opened out of it at right angles, lead
ing, Billali told me, to tombs followed in
the rock by 1.-The people who were before"
Nobody visited those tombs now. he said:
and | must say that my heart rejoiced
When l thought of the opportunities OF
antiquarian research that opened out be-
fore me.
At last we came to the head Of the cave,
where there was a rock dais almost exactly
o;p,;Iar m THO ona ou which IVA Ind haaD